While you may be looking forward to fireworks on the 4th of July, there may be some fireworks of the legislative variety on the 8th of July. After what turned out to be a very brief interim, Governor Greg Abbott has announced that he will call lawmakers back for a special session set to begin on July 8.

At this time, Governor Abbott has not officially announced which topics will be on the call for the special session. However, he has mentioned a few items in various meetings and interviews, and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick has requested that Abbott add some additional items to the list (though to be clear, only the Governor can add items to the call). Therefore, if we were to speculate, the call could include any or all of the following items (as well as other items not listed here):

The Article X Appropriations fund the legislative branch of government. If it is not passed and sent to the Governor again, the legislative branch will not be funded as of September 1.

Each called special session may last for up to 30 days. Lawmakers may adjourn sooner than 30 days, but they may not meet or pass legislation for more than 30 days. The Governor would have to call another special session, and the legislative process would have to begin again for that new session.

Lawmakers may only pass legislation in a special session that is specifically on the call issued by the Governor. The Governor may call a special session on a limited list of items (even just one if he chooses), and can then add other items to the call as the session continues.

We will update you once Governor Abbott announces what the topics for this First Called Session of the 87th Legislature will be.

Speaking of Governor Abbott, he vetoed two bills that we covered in our post-legislative workshop. Due to that veto, the following two bills will not become law:

Yesterday, TEA released information and funding amounts for districts that received no or low amounts of ESSER funding. If you are wondering if you are one of those districts, or you would like to get an idea of how much your district might expect to receive, you can access that information on the list TEA posted.

The amounts on the posted list could change based on final enrollment numbers, so please treat these numbers as an estimate. Also, please pay special attention to the footnote at the bottom of the list. It reads "the legislative appropriation is less than the amount needed to fully fund this grant. TEA is requesting approval to increase the total amount of funding available, but that request may not be resolved for several months."

TEA expects a grant application for this to be available beginning July 12, through the end of August. You can find more details on this topic through the To the Administrator Addressed Letter here, or on this website: Supplemental ESSER (ESSER-SUPP) Grant Program.

We've posted two updated presentations covering the changes adopted during the 87th Regular Legislative Session. These are similar to the information provided in the Post-Legislative Workshop, but they have been updated and abbreviated slightly, vetoed bills have bee removed, and they make reference to the July 8 Special Session. Please feel free to use this information as a whole or in part in your district and community.

These (and other) presentations are also available in the Member's Area of our website, which you are welcome to access at any time via your email address and password of your choice (which you can easily reset with your email address).